Southeast
Asia’s progress in the nearly half a century since ASEAN was founded has been
nothing short of amazing.
If ASEAN
were one economy, today it would be the world’s seventh largest. Indonesia, the
region’s largest economy, is helping drive growth as it ramps up investment in
infrastructure and steps up efforts to spur private investment.
Despite
ASEAN’s impressive progress to date, the region will be facing very different
and increasingly complex challenges moving forward, necessitating new
approaches to ensure continued growth and prosperity.
ASEAN’s
vision for 2025 is for a more equitable and competitive region. To achieve
this, progress needs to occur on several fronts over the next decade, including
better infrastructure connections between the region’s countries and a renewed
focus on the health and welfare of its people as well as on the natural
environment.
Over the
next decade, according to a new publication, “ASEAN-ADB Cooperation Toward the
ASEAN Community”, tapping support in six key areas will help the region to
realize its vision.
The first
priority is physical connectivity. Connecting markets and propelling future
growth by upgrading parts of the ASEAN Highway Network, especially in Myanmar,
promotes multimodal transport, ensures greater energy security through
cross-border power interconnection and trade and boosts the use of indigenous,
low-carbon and renewable energy resources.
Second,
facilitating smoother trade and transport links makes it easier for goods and
people to cross borders by expanding traffic rights to allow more vehicles to
move across borders. It also enhances coordination between customs and other
border agencies through single windows that allow traders to satisfy all
regulatory requirements electronically at the same time.
Monetary
and financial cooperation and integration is the third priority. This
strengthens financial systems and attracts more investment by ensuring prudent
macroeconomic management and developing regional bond and equity markets.
Social
development, the fourth key area, empowers investments in the region’s most
valuable resource — its people. It includes support for more effective
communicable disease control, as well as for greater labor mobility to expand
job opportunities.
Food
security is another important public good. It can be delivered by measures to
protect public health, and by collaborating across ASEAN to promote food
security initiatives including the harmonization of food safety systems and
standards.
Finally,
through environmental sustainability we can help to mitigate the negative
effects of integration by managing critical ecosystems and biodiversity
corridors. This also supports climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Greater
efforts are needed to promote private investments and public-private
partnerships in the region, to further spur economic growth and job creation.
Over the past 50 years, cooperation between Asian Development Bank (ADB) and
ASEAN has progressively taken shape and in recent years ADB financing and
assistance has significantly grown. From 2006 through 2015, ADB financed 376 projects
worth US$15.4 billion that directly support ASEAN integration.
The ASEAN
Leaders’ vision is of a peaceful, stable and resilient and outward looking
community with enhanced capacity to respond effectively to challenges. It also
envisions vibrant, sustainable, highly integrated and better connected
economies, as well as renewed efforts to narrow development gaps.
The
ingredients for success are already in place; a population of over 620 million
people, a potential market larger than the European Union or North America, the
world’s third largest labor force and a strategic location between Asia’s two
economic giants — India and China.
The
region needs to leverage these natural advantages through more connective
infrastructure, improved life opportunities for its people, and a sharpened
focus on environmental sustainability that includes measures to address the
impacts of climate change.
ASEAN can
already be considered the world’s most successful grouping of developing
countries. By redoubling its efforts on new and remaining challenges, it can
deliver an even better future for its people.
Alfredo
Perdiguero
The writer is principal regional cooperation
specialist at ADB’s Southeast Asia Regional Department.
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